Shattered 2: Courtney
by DreamingSpiritBells
Summary: Sequel to shattered: She spoke those words slowly, testing them almost, yet so much pain laced them, she could already feel her own mask chipping, her strong side weakening as she whispered,"You used me." Reviewww ;D no flames plz!
1. Chapter 1

_**Shattered 2:**_

_**Courtney**_

_**By:**_

_**Ashley!**_

_**P.S: I do not own TDI, TDA, or TDWT, if I did, Duncan would be castrated right now, Gwen would be in the depths of hell, and Courtney would be nodding approvingly at me. KIDDING KIDDING xD Enjoy!**_

**(BTW this starts likeeeee in... episode 16, kinda)**

_**Courtney's POV:**_

**(this is during episode 16)**As I stared at him, his eyebrow doing that one-half-raised-the-other lowered, his eyes blank, devoid of emotion, I felt my heart being tugged at. It was only that at first, just a tug, and I didn't even acknowledge Alejandro as he tried to flirt with me. I had figured it out, and as the truth slammed into my chest, I felt my knees grow weak, shaken.

It was one thing to kiss Gwen behind my back, it was one thing to actually see him do it, but now... now he went too far. I immediately knew he had planned this, by that look of his I knew this was his doing, and I hated it, I hated it so much... but that was only strengthening the soft tug on my heart strings, thankfully, none had severed themselves yet.

**(this is the end of episode 15 xD there, hope you understand, from here on it's go pretty much in order) **I didn't flinch when he looked away, didn't even bat an eyelash when Tyler was voted off, and I didn't sit down until everyone was gone, until I knew that no one would hear or see me.

And that's when I fell to my knees, and I cried.

I still remembered so clearly, so achingly clearly the time that Heather had almost murdered me in season 1, I still remembered that my only will to live-my only reason for pulling myself out of that coma and driving myself to get better, to conquer the array of wounds that covered my body-was him. I remember the way his relief flooded him as I looked at him for the first time after I fully came out of the darkness, and I remember that skull... the skull I still had safely tucked away in my purse with the rest of my luggage, being chucked to me when he left.

Now, he had slipped through my grasp.

It did hurt to admit that, it hurt a lot. But before I knew it, I could hear footsteps coming through the darkness, and I skittered into the shadows, and when the footsteps passed me, I found it to be none-other than Duncan and Gwen again. This time, I didn't choose to follow them, didn't give the effort of beating them down.

So instead, I slunk away back to first class, hiding from Heather, Cody, and Sierra as I curled up and watched the night pass, never letting my mind stray to them, or at least trying to.

When I had formed the alliance with Heather, I knew what I was getting into, but when Alejandro set his foot on our side, and began to flirt with me, I had been confused at first. Seeing an opportunity to make Duncan jealous, I had let Alejandro flirt his heart out, but when he lead me back to the loser side, and I saw that look on Duncan's face, the puzzle started to fit itself together.

The tug on my heart strings was slowly increasing, becoming persistent, but I pushed it back and instead withdrew the one thing I had managed to snatch before going back to first class, it was the one thing that would have originally brought me back here if Alejandro hadn't sought to bring me back himself.

I leaned against the door frame, pulling the wad of cloth out and gazing back at Duncan carefully, guarding myself from him with my expressionless mask.

Without hesitation, I threw the wad of cloth at him, watching as it landed perfectly in his lap, and I didn't waver my stance, expression, or eyes once as I watched him unfold the cloth curiously, then saw his expression shift slightly as he found the skull he had carved for me staring back at him with lifeless eye-sockets. He looked back up at me, confusion etched across his facade now.

As I turned away from Alejandro, shooting him a glare to let him know I knew his plan, I whispered over my shoulder at Duncan,"It belongs to her, now." Silence. Complete silence as I walked away, not daring to look back to see his expression now.

_**TIME SKIP!**_

_**because I don't really wanna write the whole challenge**_

_**it would ruin parts of the episode, even if I've already**_

_**given away a lot 0.o**_

_**but yea xD**_

_**Courtney-ish POV (now):**_

**(BTW, this is actually like right at the elimination ceremony, everyone's present this time tho, so yea...) **She's looking at him now, at his face, his blank, stoic face that used to drive her crazy. Now, all it represents is pain.

He does not gaze back, oh no, nor does he glance her way when she walks in like he used to. He does not even acknowledge her presence as she takes a seat on the bench at the bottom of the bleachers, waiting, now, for who goes home, and who stays.

Her heart is being tugged at again, it's beginning to tear at some of her heart strings, but she's so persistent, so confident, now.

Confidence is all she ever had, really.

And it's not because she was born with the will to make everything perfect, precise, considering she never was born with that will. What pushed her first was her mother, always insisting she be the utmost _best _at everything she tried, and when that did not succeed, her father stepped in.

A cruel man, her father was, never exactly resorting to physical attacks, but somehow always tearing down her walls, bit by agonizing bit, with his words. They were so precise, so poised as to believe that he had stayed up the whole night thinking over each dagger tipped word, each poison laced sentence.

She'd eventually gotten so tired of that, rubbed raw by it all, that she gave in. Courtney actually gave in. And that, is where her will to make everything perfect was born. Confidence was laced in afterwards, when her older sister had actually stood up to him that faithful day way back when, when she had made a tiny mistake in her violin lesson while he was watching, and he had belittled her and dismissed her so easily at first, until her sister stepped in.

That was the first time her father had struck one of them.

Before she could venture deeper into her scarred past, Chris called her to go vote, and as she stood, she barely caught Duncan's hand reaching for Gwen's. Her heart strings ripped a tiny bit more, but she walked away to the bathroom, shut the door, and did what she knew she had to, stamp Gwen's picture.

As she came back into elimination room, she decided to stand and watch, leaning against the wall, she did not make a sound, did not let the flames lapping at her heart-so persistently now!-bring on tears, she only observed.

Alejandro tried to woo her, but she ignored his advances again, staring off at nothing as she waited. For what, she already knew, but didn't wish to be proved right. **(OHOHOH and btw like... I changed the elimination for this episode, so it wouldn't ruin everything, so yea xD)**

The ending result of the elimination ceremony was Gwen: 3, Duncan: 2, with Courtney ending at 4. She did not flinch, did not feel the rush of tears as she walked towards Chris holding the parachute. She only noted Duncan and Gwen's smug expressions.

She gazed out at the sky as it floated past her vision when Chef opened the door, holding it for her with a somber expression, he had been a fan of her and Duncan, and hated seeing this. She nodded quietly at him, and turned around to gaze at her old team-mates, most of them stared back at her with smug faces as well, all except for Sierra, who held a sad frown and drooping eyes, mouthing 'I'm sorry' to her.

She nodded curtly, then finally, finally, settled her gaze on Duncan.

She watched him for what seemed like ages, but was only a few seconds, first his chest-that chest, oh, that chest that she had rested her face on so many times as they spent the night together-, then his mohawk-oh, that green thing that used to drive her so crazy when he refused to shave it off, but now she had gotten used to running her fingers through it, she missed the feel-, and finally-she was stealing herself-, his eyes.

She studied them, looking for something-anything!- that would note his sadness at her being voted off.

But when she chose to look deeper, just one last time, she saw something that made her gaze more wary, her muscles around her heart tighten. She watched the expression in them for a second longer, before it clicked.

It was so idiotic to her at first, she almost brushed the thought aside.

But as she looked at him, her vision wary, for once, her guard taken down, misplaced, she saw it in those eyes. Those achingly, beautiful teal blue eyes that had once stared at her with so much affection behind closed doors.

Those eyes that she now realized always had held a mask. A mask unlike hers, for her mask, which was carefully tweaked and strained and fit so snugly on her face now whenever she chose to hide from people, was still only half filled in. But his, oh but his, was full and smooth, it escaped her how for so long she had never noticed that simple masked lining, that cover.

That fake presence that had always been there, but she had never noticed until now. Until it was too late.

Now, she saw through that mask, and into the real Duncan, the Duncan she had thought about so many nights when they were apart, the one she had ached for, the one she had worried for when he was gone this season, that Duncan was his mask.

And when she saw through it, she realized everything in that one moment. That achingly long, horrible moment of him staring at her as she stared back at him, his fingers laced through Gwen's, and the only thing that came to her mind, then, were three, soft, yet somehow dagger tipped words that immediately ripped at her heart.

She spoke those words slowly, testing them almost, yet so much pain laced them, she could already feel her own mask chipping, her strong side weakening as she whispered,

"You used me."

It was as if, once she had spoken those words, a door was unlocked, a horrible, ugly door she had always avoided looking at, until now. Now, the truth stood before her, in all it's horrific presence, and instead of pushing it back behind her barrier, she grasped it and held on to it as she said again, but with more sureness this time,"You used me."

Duncan's face faltered a tiny fraction, but it was enough for her to push through that barrier and unleash a sense of... she wasn't even sure what anymore as her pupils narrowed into slits, very nearly blending against her onyx irises as she persisted,"All this time... and now I see it."

Duncan started to ask her where she came to that bright idea, before she took a step back and hissed,"On Total Drama Island, you were a teenager, a delinquent, a _criminal. _It used to amaze me how you could find something to like in someone like me, but now I see it, now I see _you _Duncan."

"And what exactly do you see?" He challenged, leaning forward and breaking his contact with Gwen, arms folding on his knees as he watched her, a volcano encountering a tornado, and neither one of them noticed anyone else, they were in their own bubble, now.

"You used me," she repeated, and he growled slightly,"What do you mean?" She took a deep breath as she saw all of it, all of his barriers down for her, though he didn't realize it.

It was finally her turn to accuse him of changing, though she realized now, he never had.

"On Total Drama Island, I was a naive girl, something you saw potential in. I first thought that potential was of the romantic kind, but now I see what you really saw...," she felt her shoulder grazing the door frame, waiting like a viper ready to strike as he replied slowly,"And what would that be."

"A toy," she whispered, and when he scoffed she continued,"I was your toy, until I got hurt. Then you must have considered me a human being, before you reminded yourself of the challenge at hand. What you used me for, Duncan, was winning. You knew I was good at leading, you knew I could get you far, you saw your opportunity, you took it." That threw him for a loop, and he gazed back at her, stumped, she knew she had caught him, _finally, _in her coils. She'd been waiting for this since Gwen had taken him from her, a chance at revenge.

"Gwen always liked you, ever since we all met each other on Total Drama Island, she may have liked Trent as well, but after a while, I bet you anything she started seeing you as the better catch. So she thought better of you, getting more into it during Total Drama Action, you figured how she felt, and you began feeling the same, considering _I _was your pawn in this game," she continued, ruthlessly, each word laced with poison, just like her fathers had been.

"When I came back, you resumed that torture, that fake relationship, knowing I would get you farther again in the game than you were last time, you _knew_. All of that paid off, too, didn't it? When you won. But that wasn't the end, now was it? You were having fun with this game, it was the one thing that kept you happy after having to give up your criminal ways," she found herself growling now, her anger flaring as the flames around her heart fueled it. She knew she was right, or at least she figured.

"And then, oh AND THEN. You got bored of this, bored of everything! So you quit before the game barely started this time, and it was luck that Chris found you and dragged you back. You had been thinking about Gwen, I can see it in your eyes, that whole time, weren't you?... You see, you don't even deny it," she hissed as her fists balled at her sides, his expression was flickering so much she barely kept track of it.

"When you first kissed her, you knew she was what you wanted-she wasn't _me. _I'm the girl that's been broken enough, that's been rubbed so raw that all I know is how to be uptight, bossy, it's how _I am, _Duncan. You know everything about my past, I _told _you, but you barely listened, faking concern, faking it _all." _her nails were digging into her skin as she made her assumptions, showed all of her pain as she whispered,"After all we've been through, it only took one kiss for you to take it all back, to show me what you really think of me Duncan."

She let the hurt lace her words as she barely uttered-yet she knew he heard-,"And that's nothing." The silence as she stepped out of the plane and began her dissent is what made her believe her words.

And when her parachute was unfurled, and she was floating gently down to the ground, she didn't regret it, not one bit.

But in the end, it didn't stop the tears from falling, from knowing she would never be able to see him again. But what stuck the most in her mind, was his final look as she took her fall out the plane.

Blank.

And that, was when Courtney's world, finally had enough, when it finally...

Shattered.

_**That... took a while to figure out how to write properly**_

_**and I'm sorry if Courtney sounds off again... I don't think I'll ever get her right x.x **_

_**I tried! **_

_**Agh, and I almost cried T.T but I promise it gets better! And it does end with Duncan and Courtney, sometime...**_

_**Promise! Cuz I hate this right now.. x.x stupid Duncan!**_

_**Anyways, tell me what you guys think! **_

_**and no flames plz, they hurt me feelers more T.T**_

_**whoever replies I love you D: not stalkery tho... xD and you guys get hugs and some tissues if you cried anddd a stuffed animal of your choice, and some cookies... ;D**_

_**~bells**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Finally chapter two...**_

_**sorry I slacked a little...**_

_**WARNING!**_

_**this Courtney does not sound like normal Courtney**_

_**and for that I am sorry**_

_**But I trieddddd D:**_

_**I keep trying T.T**_

_**Oh andddd no hate plz...**_

_**I know this is really screwed up in this chapter...**_

_**But yea, it gets better!**_

_**Anywayss...**_

_**Plz enjoy~**_

_**~bellz**_

_**Chapter 2:**_

_**Six years later...**_

_**Third Person's POV:**_

On a quiet, sleeping street in the middle of the night, a house stands among the shadows, it is neither too short, nor too tall, too grand, or too plain, but rather a mix. It's dark walls deeply blend into the night, barely lit by the full moon as it highlights the wrap-around porch, and the burnt out deck lights that desperately needed to be fixed, but were always neglected.

Two windows gaze out at the street almost hauntingly from the first floor, no light is lit behind the closed curtains, and not one form peaks from behind the door, the two steps leading down to the sidewalk that connects to the driveway look barely used, yet on the welcome mat placed delicately in front of the door there are the tell-tale signs of life, though only in the barely ever noticed form of muddy shoe prints, wiped casually there ever other night.

No sound can be heard from the outside, no forms or lights are apparent on the second floor, either, and for someone passing by on a midnight stroll, it might seem as if the house were vacated.

Barely anyone takes a second glance, looking deeper, listening closer, and if one person had, they might barely be able to detect the sounds of soft sobs from behind the master-bedroom window, and the very present _smack _of skin slapping against skinthat resounds after.

Now, hearing this, one person might walk away. Yet, if you were concerned, you might walk up to that door, might somehow work your way in, and you might see the horrors that lay inside that closed door, the true, ugly inside of that seemingly normal house on that quiet street.

Yet, no one knows. Or seems to care.

_**Courtney's POV-ish:**_

She lay on the hardwood floor quietly, trying not to let her sobs be heard by him, trying desperately to contain herself, to escape to that numb state behind that ugly door, where she seems safe enough.

Yet he always seems to hear.

The slap of his palm hitting her cheek again makes her head snap to the right side, her left eye is already swelling from the punch he threw earlier when she had slipped up and made a mistake in his dinner. She didn't mean to, lord knows she never meant to, but to him, it was always her fault.

Her pencil skirt of her office outfit she'd been wearing for her law-firm dress-code was lifted over her hips, and she felt him there, present where she wished he would never be again.

It takes all of her not to give him the satisfaction of her begging him to stop, she knows that is something of his dark pleasure, one of the dark chips that lies under his perfect mask. She knows she screwed up again, since she wasn't as careful with him as she had been with other men that came after she moved on from Duncan, but she slipped up.

And now, that was costing her for the almost fourth time in her life.

His blue eyes stare down at her mangled face, the face he himself had mangled, beaten... broken. She feels him press into her, and she feels so violated, she wants to push him off, she wants to do everything in her power to make him stop. But she knows that would drive him further, into what, she figured.

He hisses as she kicks out under his hulking form, throwing his ankles out from under him with her heels as she barely suppresses the whimper rising in her throat. She should've been more careful with him. Yet how could she, when he himself was there in Total Drama Island and Action with her, watching what she was going through? She never knew he had this side of him.

"Justin," she croaks out, silently begging him not to hurt her after her slip up, but he can't read her mind, so instead, his fist slams down between her chest, holding her down as he moves up and slams his other fist into the right side of her face over and _over _again, until he's done.

When he gets up and buttons his pants, growling at her as he moves to their bed, she breathes slowly, in little pants just barely heard, and she feels blood sliding down her cheek from next to her eye, she knows the feeling well.

She lays there for a good long time, waiting until the model's soft snores erupt from him, feeling disgusted in herself, _how could she let this happen again. _

She doesn't have an answer for that, she doesn't think she ever will.

But maybe, maybe it's because, when she went on the aftermath before Duncan was voted off, Justin was there. He helped her get over him, helped her get back on her feet until she was home again, and he called her almost every other night to check if she was better. He didn't even hesitate to come to her father's funeral two years after the show ended, and didn't bat an eyelash in comforting her when she saw the cover of a re-cap magazine called "Where are they now?" with a picture of Duncan and Gwen getting married on the cover.

The point is, he was there for her all the times she needed him, and after another year, they started dating. Eventually, she let him all the way in, for what reason's, no one will ever know, but we can figure, right?

After one year of dating, Justin ended up proposing to her, and they got married and ended up in this current house, just them as she decided to go back to college for a bit, focusing on her singing-considering she found it to be more provincial than being a lawyer, she wanted to live a little-, they'd been married for about two years now, and she was ready to start her career, considering he was already as successful as he could get.

And it was then that the fighting started.

She should have seen it coming, should have seen all the warning signs every time they fought, he was just like her father whenever she screwed up, the way he poised dagger tipped words and poisoned sentences at her, she should have known that it would amount to more.

Yet through it all, she still clung to that hope that he was the one, the past that held all the times he was there, all the times he treated her like she was, well, royalty to him.

It still didn't stop the first count of abuse, which was the one time he grabbed her too tightly when she had done something wrong and ended up with his anger engulfing her, and the next day, bruises in the shape of his fingers lined both sides of her arms just under her shoulders.

She remembers the first time he hit her, it was the night she'd made something he didn't approve of, and had slammed her up against the wall, connecting his first to her cheek. When he realized what he was doing, and pulled back with a shock expression, she'd thought he'd stop all this.

In the end, though, he ended up leaving for the night, and that was also the first night he cheated on her. How she found out, was the next morning her came home with lipstick all over his shirt caller, and he smelt of cheep perfume and alcohol.

And all he said when he saw the bruises, was that she should wear a long-sleeve shirt that day as he strutted past to their bedroom.

Needless to say, by now, she was tired of this all, she hated this, she sometimes wished she was never born.

But that never stopped her will to fight, and so, behind his back, she started planning for divorce.

It had already been a week of planning the divorce when this night had come on, and she knew that no one would save her but herself, her neighbors had long ago started ignoring her screams, or her whimpers, or the sounds of him getting after her.

It was still a wonder how the media found her and found out about his beatings, and after threatening to sue them if they posted this to the world, she ended up agreeing on going to the Total Drama Reunion, which was in a few more days.

She wouldn't admit it, but she was dreading it a lot. She knew Duncan and Gwen would be there, even if they _had_ gotten a divorce a few years after marriage. She still did keep in touch with Bridgette, but she hadn't found out about Justin until recently, and when she had, she gladly helped Courtney with working out the divorce in secret.

Now all that was left, was to keep it from Justin for another week, and then she'd be free.

Or at least, she hoped.

Slowly, and as silently as she could so as not to wake him, she rose to her feet, wobbling slightly and stiffening, she knew he was a light sleeper. When he didn't stir, she moved to the bathroom, thanking the person that decided on giving this house good running water, since it wasn't loud enough to wake her-soon-to-be-ex-husband.

She looked at herself in the mirror, revulsion moving through her veins as she saw how bruised her face and neck were, she didn't even want to see her lower regions, she knew from the pain down there that it was affected, too. After all, this was now the third night in a row he had so savagely taken her.

When she deemed herself clean enough, she slowly moved into bed, snuggling up to him in the one way he liked and nuzzling her head under his chin, feeling his warmth as she waited for morning to come.

She knew she wouldn't sleep on this night.

So she lay there, knowing she was basically with the enemy, hating every second of it, and yet she found a tinge of satisfaction in the fact that soon she would be free of him,or as free as she could get.

When he got up to leave for work, she kept her eyes closed and her breathing still, silently trying to will him into believing she was asleep, and it worked... this time.

When the door slammed shut downstairs, she didn't let the tears take her, or the pain swallow her like she wished she could. She could feel her life slowly rolling downhill, it always had been, or at least she thought.

She never could get a break.

She laid in bed for a while, she wasn't going in to the college today, her wounds were far too present for her to cover them with make-up, and she knew that if she set foot in there like this, she would have hell to pay later from her husband.

_Husband, bah, it's a vile word now, _she thinks as she slowly glides a hand down over her stomach area, it'd been hurting the past couple of days down there, and she figured her time of the month was coming up, so she softly tried to relax the cramps and take a nap, waiting.

For what, she didn't know anymore.

Maybe it was death, maybe it was revenge, maybe it was a lot of things, but all she knew now was that she couldn't wait to move out of this hell hole. But then again, where would she go? Her life belongs no-where in her mind, her parents place certainly stopped wanting her when she was with Duncan, Duncan even found something better in Gwen and left her stranded, and now Justin.

She was used to the punches, her father had thrown enough at her when she was little for her to stand the test of pain, but when you like someone-she stopped saying the word _love _so long ago...-as much as she had with Justin, it was hard to withstand it, to sit back and not fight.

Her confidence used to flare, her eyes used to be burning charcoal behind a half filled mask, but when Duncan cast her away without a second thought, so much of herself shattered that she found she could barely hold herself upright sometimes. She never went to the aftermath, never set one foot near the cast of Total Drama, she even went so far as to only keep contact with Bridgette through phone call.

She wondered what they would think when they saw her in a few more days, wondered who would shun her and who would take pity on her-if any at all- but most of all, she wondered what Duncan would think.

No, as much as she hates to admit it, she still holds a fraction of him in her heart, she always has. She can't help it, he was so close to her for so long, she let him in. Under all the barriers, all the walls so perfectly placed around her heart to protect herself.

But as we all know, Duncan broke her.

Justin never got under all her barriers, he only tried to fix the ones Duncan shattered, but he could only do so much. Even when he was abusing her like a drug, he never could get under all her walls, and she was thankful for that, she really was.

She didn't eat lunch or breakfast, she found herself nauseated by the food in this house, the house that was built to enslave her she now found.

Instead, she went for a walk in the forest behind their house, to the creak, the one place she felt at ease now a-days. She perches on a rock that she's sat on so many times she's become familiar with, and she gazes at her shifting reflection in the soft currents of the water at her feet, listening.

All is quiet in her world, and for now, that's enough for her.

And as she listens to the barely audible chirping of birds and things, she imagines what the reunion will be like, silently content with the fact that Justin with have a modeling shoot that day, and although she won't admit it...

A part of her really can't wait to see the people that had once been semi friends with her, and the one guy that used to make her heart sing...

_**GAH once again sorry she doesn't sound right D:**_

_**I hope this didn't screw up the whole story...**_

_**but for those of you who stay with me I LOVE YEWWWW**_

_**and you get some cookies, whatever ur fav kind is**_

_**andd yea...**_

_**review plz D:**_

_**I needa know if I totally screwed this up cuz I MAY delete this chapter and do it without Justin and his...**_

_**freakness**_

_**but yea**_

_**hope you liked D:**_

_**~bells**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**YAY! Chapter 3! Boo-ya!**_

_**Oi, it took a while to get around to it..**_

_**I'm sorry D:**_

_**But I hope you like...**_

_**it makes me happy when you like it.**_

…_**. that sounds dirty.**_

_**O.o ahh! the images! T.T**_

_**kidding kidding!**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**~bells**_

_**OH YEA, WARNING AGAIN**_

_**Courtney and Duncan don't really... sound like themselves.**_

_**I apologize if it ruins it T.T**_

_**D: Now I'm all worried!**_

_**The morning of the reunion...**_

_**Courtney's POV-ish:**_

As she stares at herself in the mirror, taking in every little detail of her recently flawed face-courtesy of Justin the night before-she barely resists the urge to groan. She feels so... ugly, in that moment, as she takes in the massive bruise that laces her right cheek-framing her right onyx colored eye so delicately that it makes her believe that's the only gentle thing that's ever been bestowed upon her, but she brushes the thought aside.

It's not the first time she's had to cover the marks up.

Reaching into her make-up bag, she rummages around until she pulls out the concealer and power, and she begins the process of masking her face. She starts with the area around the bruise, and tries not to flinch as she finds it is tender still-after she had so vigorously scrubbed at the dried blood that laid contently over it-but in th end, she swallows her resolve and quickly and silently masks the bruise.

She loathes how she must do this whenever he makes a mark on her face, in order for her to go to work, in order for them to not see how beaten she is. How torn. She scoffs silently as she moves on to masking the other half of her face, not because there is a mark there-oh dear, there have been many-but rather to smooth everything out, to make it look... normal.

The limo will be coming for her soon, and her stomach churns softly as she thinks of everyone she hasn't seen in six years. She wonder how they've changed.

She wonders if Bridgette has told them, or if the media leaked it to them.

When she is done working on her face, and once she enters back into the master bedroom, her gaze slides to the black dress she had to smuggle and hide from Justin, it will be the dress she will sing in at the Aftermath set when she makes her appearance. She admits, she is nervous, it's been forever since she's sung in front of a crowd of people, not to mention on live television. Right now, though, she can only gaze fondly t the black material, the way it is cut and trimmed so that it will fit her curves as if it were a second skin.

She remembers the way she looked at herself in the mirror when she first tried it on, and how, for the first time in a long time, she felt beautiful.

Sighing fondly at the memory, she slips the dress onto a hanger and slides the protective cover over it, folding it carefully so as not to ruin the dress and placing it her travel bag. It's probably the only thing she'll need, today, but she still stuffs her phone into the travel bag as well, and that's that.

She's lucky that Justin's out for the day, but she knows he'll be home at 6 sharp for his dinner, he always is. If she's not there, she figures the consequences.

Thankfully, the reunion only lasts until 4, and she's desperately hoping Justin won't see it on the news or hear it over the radio. She takes a deep breath, then reassures herself that she can make it two more days until the court date.

She feels herself becoming smug, for on that day will be the day Justin will be enraged, she knows. He will probably end up losing everything, after her case is presented, and she idly figures he'll be sent to jail, and that will end his modeling career.

Before she can revel in the outcome of her upcoming divorce, she finds herself startled by the honking of an impatient horn outside her-she catches herself, _his- _house. Her legs move beneath the fabric of her jean capri's, and her toes curl nervously beneath her socks which are encased by her black flats. Her purple shirt, which adorns a black belt that cinches at the waist, moves with her as she leans over slightly to grab her travel bag.

On the way out, she grabs her keys to the house and locks up, nervously finger brushing her hair as she strides down the two steps, hitting the concrete, and she is met with the sight of Chef holding the limo door open to her. As she passes him, she looks up and without thinking, she salutes him with a small smile.

It is neither mocking, nor degrading, she is purely doing it because he had once been an ally to her, and had once stood by her when Duncan had left her for Gwen.

Chef looks stunned for a moment, but as she's entering the limo and sliding across the seat, out of the corner of her eye she sees him salute back. It makes her smile again, if only for a moment.

When he's in the driver's seat, he asks,"Pretty boy's not coming?" "He has a modeling shoot," she replies casually, though she figures right now he's probably screwing his manager in the back room like she once caught him doing. It sickens her slightly, but she reminds herself that soon she'll be gone from that world. That horrible, tainted world with that model who never gave an ounce of caring towards her, in reality.

The ride to the aftermath studio is silent save for the radio up front, which is set on a police reports channel that she barely holds interest in, zoning herself out as she gazes silently and stoicly out the window. She does, however, let her hearing hone in when the report is on a women that was reported to the hospital a while back, apparently now, her husband was behind it, and now he is serving 15 years in jail for it.

_15 years, _the statement whispers through her mind, and she quietly wonders if that will happen to Justin.

_He'd deserve it, _a voice in the back of her mind says bluntly, and she doesn't know whether to agree with that or deny it, he is human, after all.

_Is it worth getting beaten almost every night, because he's another human? _She asks herself, and she knows the answer.No, no it is not. It never will be.

Before she knows it, the limo is stopping outside of the aftermath studio, only in the back, thankfully. She doesn't wish to face reporters or fans or any of that right now, not until after.

When the limo stops, she has to will herself to fill with that dignity and pride she once had flowing through her veins so strongly, but was now doused with the water of hatred he spilled on her the moment he started taking all his anger out on her.

She hates him.

As she steps out of the limo, Chef accompanies her to the door, since she's the last contestant he had to round up. He kindly holds the door open for her, and she's grateful, but she doesn't voice it as she walks past and finds herself in a beige colored hallway lit with three lights leading to another door.

When she passes through this door, she finds herself in a room bathed in black-or as most would refer to it: backstage. In the corner, there stands a single vanity with a mirror lit by light bulbs that trace the mirror's edge, and in front of it stand two girls that don't look much older than Courtney herself. They introduce themselves and she finds they are her make-up artists for the day.

Courtney's shuffled into the chair that sits in front of the vanity, and after telling them she already has concealer on, they get to work.

They crimp her hair, and she finds herself feeling a tinge of pride as she sees how her hair falls perfectly, in jagged waves that fame her face just right. They outline her eyes and make them pop, and for once, there's a slight sparkle that adorns the onyx that's usually set in a blackened state all its own. They even pain her nails-a soft black that's not too black as to make people think she's goth, but just right to compliment her dress.

When they're done working on her, she thanks them and stands while the direct her to the changing room-a door in the back.

Grabbing her traveling bag, she heads towards the door, and when she's in there, finally alone with the door closed, she slides to the floor and sits silently, going over the lyrics to the song she's to perform. It's the first song she'll ever publish, and she admits she's rather happy about it, but she can't help being nervous, since she wonders what everyone will think.

She's still hoping that Justin doesn't find out.

She wrote this song based off of what she's been through, sort of, she changed the lyrics probably at least nine times, and finally settled on the ending result. She hopes it will sound alright, at least.

After she's done, she changes and slips the dress up onto her; it's a beautiful black dress that hugs every curve and ends at mid-thigh, it is also strapless. She scuffs her black flats on the floor, gazing at herself in the mirror before she leaves, carrying her travel bag which now holds her clothes in it, along with the hanger and protective cover. One of her make-up artists-Stacy is the name, she's blond with a short stature and a tiny waist, and bright brown eyes-kindly offers to hold her bag while she sings and is interviewed, and Courtney hands it over, forcing a smile.

Her eyes are drawn towards the curtain that masks his room from the stage, and her curiosity gets the better of her, since it's been so long since she's seen this place. She pulls back the curtain enough to peak through, and she finds herself staring.

The aftermath studio has indeed changed, that's for sure. For now, there are two stages, the original is where the couch is, with the two bleachers lining it. She can barely make out Geoff and Blainley's equally blond hair, but she gets a clear view of the others. Most of them have changed, some have not, she doesn't note which ones have and have not, yet.

She's waiting.

For what, no one can know but her, as her attention is drawn to the sound of a guitar that's playing on the stage that stretches out in front of her. She's not really surprised when she sees Trent up there, strumming his guitar like he's been doing for years, with the audience eating it up before him.

And as she pulls back into the shadows, she starts remembering things from the show, and her heart tries to cinch up withing her chest.

She won't let it, yet.

_**Duncan's POV-ish:**_

He was bored.

So intoxicatingly bored as he watched Elvis-better known as Trent- go into his fourth song of the day.

But it was amusing to him, as well.

Considering that his now ex-wife was completely taken by him, watching him with those wide eyes of hers. He'll admit, he did miss her, she sat across from him on the other set of bleachers, zoned in to Trent's strumming.

He hated it.

But as he fumbled with the skull in his pocket, he kept thinking of how ironic this all was. Gwen had returned the skull to his hands the moment she told him she wanted a divorce. First Courtney, then Gwen.

_Courtney, _the name is whispered in his mind, and his chest automatically tightens. He knows why, and he hates it. He wishes this would stop.

Yet it never did, it started when Courtney left Total Drama World Tour, and it never ended. Not even on him and Gwen's wedding day, or night, and even when they were getting a divorce, it didn't hurt as much as the hurt over Courtney did. It was always there, lurking... waiting. He wished he would have been smarter as a kid, but he knows he can't change anything, now.

Speaking of Courtney, he immediately scans the crowd for her face again, and the disappointment from the first time of not seeing her here still lingers, even after he finds she's still not there. The last time he saw her face was on a magazine, three years ago, when she married Justin.

And not one word about her was spilled into the tabloids, after that.

He'll admit, he looked for her for a time, but eventually gave up after Gwen became nagging and tried to figure out what he was doing. She always was a curious goth, he had to give her that much.

When Trent's strumming ends, everyone claps, and Duncan lets himself clap as well, if only for show. He doesn't really care, though, he'd much rather be somewhere else than this place since _she's _not here.

Blainley's voice can be heard loud and clear as she says,"And yet another astounding performance by Trent Goldmen!" Chris chuckles next to her, sitting on the couch with his hair the same as it used to be, and with him in a black tux. Geoff and Bridgette are seated next to him, and Duncan finds himself zoning out as they gossip about Trent and his 'musical magic' as they put it.

Yet, he finds his ears perking slightly as he hears Bridgette announce,"And up next is a friend I haven't seen in a long time, she's recently been working on an album, and it will be published in a few weeks, I'm excited to hear her first song!" Blainley ooh's as does some other girls, and she says,"Well let's hear it then! Give it up for Courtney!"

Duncan's heart nearly stops as his eyes glide over to the curtain, watching it pull back as a beat starts humming through the whole building, and out walks the girl he used to be bound at the hip with.

His collar seems to be tight around his neck as he sees her for the first _real _time in six years. He hasn't changed that much, only got ride of a few piercings when Gwen nagged at him about it, even if she had once said she loved them.

He's beginning to realize a lot of flaws in their relationship; flaws that had lurked in the shadows of doubt behind a door he never chose to open, until it was over.

But all thought is erased as he catches her face in the light, and he sees how she's changed, herself. Well, at least her body.

He listens to the beat if the song, and he waits for her to start singing.

He finds himself becoming amused as he realizes that this is going to be a lot more interesting than Elvis's performance.

_**Soooooo...**_

_**How was it?**_

_**Was it... h-h..h... horrible?**_

_**~choke, sad face~**_

_**D: I hope you liked it! I'll... edit if I need to x.x**_

_**~pouts~ I hope you liked! The next chapter should be better...**_

_**ALSO**_

_**What song should Courtney sing? I was thinking like... **_

_**Good girl's gone bad by Rihanna or... **_

_**Impossible by Shontelle 0.o**_

_**idk, you guys choose**_

_**and if you dooooo**_

_**You gets HUGSSSSS**_

_**ANDDDDD COOKIESSSSSSSS**_

_**ANDDDDD... idk what else, you guys choose dis time ;D**_

_**~bellzeh**_


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